Artist Spotlight #50 – Jamie Lawrence

Who are you?
My name is Jamie Lawrence, artist, musician, future winner of both an Oscar and the Turner prize, and I’m an international man of leisure to boot. (“So you’re unemployed then” I hear you cry, far from it!)

What do you do?
I draw the pictures you can see here as well as all the other things mentioned above and more.

Why do you do it?
I love doing these drawings because they’re totally self indulgent, it’s just me with a blank sheet of paper and I can do whatever I like, pure self expression, total freedom.

How do you create these images?
They’re drawn in coloured pencil with an outline done beforehand in fine black pen. I also use compasses etc. to get the geometry right, I love engineering drawing(!) I’ll start with a basic idea which could come from anywhere, I’ll do a thumbnail sketch to work out a very basic composition then work from there. There’s no first draft or colour test so I dive straight in and what happens happens.

Who are your influences?
Artistically I suppose my influences are people like Alan Aldridge who did the Butterfly Ball amongst many other things and Simon Bisley who drew the ABCWarriors in 2000AD over twenty years ago. Their level of skill and detail fascinated me when I was younger and still does. Also the art of the original Star Wars movies, graffiti – I was a graffiti artist for years. All these things made my jaw drop when I first saw them, they really got me excited and that’s the kind of art I like. I’m from the original Star Wars generation, it blew my mind visually when I first saw it at the age of seven and I’ve never quite glued it all back together.

What inspires your work?
I worked in the special effects/animatronics businness for years at amongst other places Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in London (alas now gone), and the look of the work is somewhat inspired by the amazing engineering that went into making the creatures we had to do, that’s the skeletal/constructed look of it. I’m inspired to keep going because I’ve no idea where they’ll get me and I’m keen to find out. I’m also inspired to carry on by the simple fact that I don’t have a clue as to how the next one will end up but I’m impatient to know. I really enjoy doing them. Friendship is starting to become a theme, I also think it’s fine to create art for the sake of making something beautiful alone.

What do you like?
Being on a film set, the Beatles, the sea, dusty old funk music, considerate people, dogs, aircooled VW’s, Angel Delight (butterscotch flavour), Australia, here, the Faces, friends in foreign countries (no need for hotels!), Coca Cola, imagination, playing the bass, the Shard at London Bridge, my parents, lying in, Dad’s Army, Terry Gilliam’s vision, a free spirit, the sun (not the newspaper), Star Wars/American Graffiti/Close Encounters of the Third Kind, snow, everything.

What don’t you like?
“If you haven’t got anything good to say then don’t say anything” is a famous saying, but forget that…tea, coffee, baked beans, idiots.